News Release

Pompeo at CIA: Iran Belligerence, Pro-Torture, Pro-Surveillance

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congress-benghazi2-1Donald Trump’s reported nominee for CIA director, Rep. Mike Pompeo, tweeted on Thursday about Iran: “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”

McClatchy reports that “Rep. Mike Pompeo wants to revive mass surveillance program.” McClatchy also reports: “In a statement after the 2014 release of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s interrogation practices, Pompeo said they were lawful, and sharply criticized the report’s author, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. … Pompeo has also served on the special House committee that investigated the September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. … Pompeo helped prepare Pence for the vice presidential debate with Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.” The Intercept reports: “Obama Refuses to Pardon Edward Snowden. Trump’s New CIA Pick Wants Him Dead” and “Donald Trump Hopes to Abolish Intelligence Chief Position, Reverse CIA Reforms.”

[Trump is also reportedly nominating Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. In “The Sessions Nomination and the ‘Emergency Exception,’” Marcy Wheeler notes that Sessions backed legislation that “would have created a black hole of surveillance, in which authorities could obtain content simply by declaring an emergency. … All Trump’s named nominees thus far save Reince Preibus couch their racism in terms of claims of ’emergency.’ Those claims, tied to Sessions’ views on legal process, would make for an unchecked executive.”]

MELVIN GOODMAN, goody789[at]verizon.net
Goodman is author of the forthcoming Whistleblower at the CIA. Goodman is director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy. He was an analyst at the CIA for 24 years, including as chief and senior analyst at the Office of Soviet Affairs for a decade. His books include Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism. He has been featured on prior Institute for Public Accuracy news releases, including “Benghazi: Was the Consulate a CIA Front?